Montana Gets Props on Perfect U.S. Road Trip

You have to have a lot of self-confidence if you're going to title your travel piece the "perfect U.S. road trip."

But since Montana gets prominently featured in this wild and crazy journey, we're going to say, "right on, pal!" So, if you have lots of time and plenty of gas money for your extremely reliable ride, then let's go!

Discovery News partnered with Randy Olson, a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University, to plan the perfect American road trip. You can start at any point, and when outlined on a U.S. map takes a shape of something that looks a bit like a horse with a goiter problem, the sophisticated algorithm takes you across the U.S. and lets you stop in each of the continental states. So, are you ready?

Here is the list of the landmarks you’d stop at in each state on this road trip:

1. Grand Canyon, AZ

2. Bryce Canyon National Park, UT

3. Craters of the Moon National Monument, ID

4. Yellowstone National Park, WY

5. Pikes Peak, CO

6. Carlsbad Caverns National Park, NM

7. The Alamo, TX

8. The Platt Historic District, OK

9. Toltec Mounds, AR

10. Elvis Presley’s Graceland, TN

11. Vicksburg National Military Park, MS

12. French Quarter, New Orleans, LA

13. USS Alabama, AL

14. Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL

15. Okefenokee Swamp Park, GA

16. Fort Sumter National Monument, SC

17. Lost World Caverns, WV

18. Wright Brothers National Memorial Visitor Center, NC

19. Mount Vernon, VA

20. White House, Washington, DC

21. Colonial Annapolis Historic District, MD

22. New Castle Historic District, Delaware

23. Cape May Historic District, NJ

24. Liberty Bell, PA

25. Statue of Liberty, NY

26. The Mark Twain House & Museum, CT

27. The Breakers, RI

28. USS Constitution, MA

29. Acadia National Park, ME

30. Mount Washington Hotel, NH

31. Shelburne Farms, VT

32. Fox Theater, Detroit, MI

33. Spring Grove Cemetery, OH

34. Mammoth Cave National Park, KY

35. West Baden Springs Hotel, IN

36. Abraham Lincoln’s Home, IL

37. Gateway Arch, MO

38. C. W. Parker Carousel Museum, KS

39. Terrace Hill Governor’s Mansion, IA

40. Taliesin, WI

41. Fort Snelling, MN

42. Ashfall Fossil Bed, NE

43. Mount Rushmore, SD

44. Fort Union Trading Post, ND

45. Glacier National Park, MT

46. Hanford Site, WA

47. Columbia River Highway, OR

48. San Francisco Cable Cars, CA

49. San Andreas Fault, CA

50. Hoover Dam, NV

Well, a pretty outdoorsy list for the most part, which should rev the engines of many Montanans. Remember: we require a post card from every stop! Safe travels.